READING 9 B1

www.blog.com/janeharris

Giving up sugar
As most of my regular readers know, I stopped eating sugar four weeks ago. How has it
been? Harder than I thought! The problem is that so much food has sugar in it. It’s easy
to avoid chocolate and cakes but it’s the food you don’t expect to have sugar in that
makes it difficult. Four weeks ago I had no idea that a lot of bread, for example, contains
sugar. Did you know that a slice of bread can contain nearly a teaspoon of sugar and a
jar of pasta sauce sometimes has 10 teaspoons of sugar!

During the first week I felt terrible. I had no energy and I was in a bad mood all the
time. I also had awful headaches. I wondered if the headaches were due to not eating
sugar, so I went online and found some useful websites. I read about other people who
had given up sugar and they said they had headaches too at first, but that they don’t last
long. They were right. As the weeks have passed, I have seen a great change. I now have
more energy than before, no headaches and my mood is better.

People keep asking me why I am doing this. The main reason is to be healthier, but it’s
also a personal challenge to see if I can stop something I enjoy. There are many health
benefits which include better skin and more energy, but research also shows that sugar
reduces your ability to learn because you remember less.
I recently read something that really shocked me: 100 years ago we ate 1kg of sugar a
year and now we eat 60kg a year! I have tried to persuade some of my friends to give
up sugar with me, but with no success… yet!

It’s still not easy and I often want something sweet in the evenings. I find that doing
exercise really helps when I can’t stop thinking about cake. I often go out for a run or
go cycling and when I come back the thoughts about sugar have gone. Most people
who have stopped eating sugar say that in time you stop missing it, and you stop
daydreaming of cakes and ice cream! I hope this happens to me too!

1 Read Jane’s blog and match the topics (A–D) to paragraphs (1–4).
1 Paragraph 1 A Exercise helps when I need sugar.
2 Paragraph 2 B Not eating sugar is difficult.
3 Paragraph 3 C How your body feels when you first give up sugar.
4 Paragraph 4 D Reasons for giving up sugar.

2 Read Jane’s blog again and choose the correct options to complete the sentences.
1 Jane has written / never written a blog post before.
2 Giving up sugar has been easier / more difficult than Jane expected.
3 Jane has always known / just discovered that bread contains sugar.
4 Jane read some good / bad advice on the internet about headaches.
5 Sugar can improve your memory / make your memory worse.
6 Jane’s friends have / haven’t given up sugar.
7 Jane exercises / daydreams of cake to stop thinking about sugar.
8 Jane hopes that she will lose her interest in sugar / start eating cake and ice cream again.

Skills Boost B1 READING 9 © Richmond 2014 Photocopiable